Are You Stuck on a Treadmill of Performance?

First, an announcement: I have set up a blog schedule to help me stay organized and up to date (hopefully) on all my blogs. For this blog, I plan to post three times/week, on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Now, for this post, I have to mention that Joyce Meyer is one of my favorite “Women of the Word” speakers and writers. I had the privilege of seeing her and meeting her on a couple of occasions, many years ago.

I own several books, devotionals, and tape sets of her teachings. One devotional book I purchased recently is the evening devotional companion, Ending Your Day Right, to the morning one, Starting Your Day Right.

The April 29th devotional thought was the admonition to “Get Off the Treadmill.” Now the irony here is that I just purchased a treadmill – a small, non-motorized home version – to help me get cardio exercise regularly, even when I don’t make it to the gym. Let’s face it, one of the drawbacks of working at home as a freelance writer is you tend to spend a lot of time SITTING in front of either a computer or laptop.

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Well, Joyce is not advocating ceasing a beneficial healthy activity – instead, in this devotional thought, she emphasized the importance of getting off the world’s performance treadmill. If we only feel good about ourselves when we perform according to the expectations of others – or even difficult, self-imposed standards – it only adds to the feelings of guilt and failure if we don’t meet those expectations.

As Joyce explained, we’re not supposed to be prideful – but God wants us to feel good about ourselves, His creation, and not reject ourselves. Instead, we should place our confidence in Him.

“If you are trapped on the performance treadmill, ask God to break the cycle in your life.” ~ Joyce Meyer